1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an information processing system, an information processing apparatus, control methods therefor, and a storage medium.
2. Description of the Related Art
A technique in which an information processing apparatus such as a PC is connected to a Web server on a network so that an operation screen provided by the Web server is displayed on a display unit via a Web browser built into the information processing apparatus is generally known. When the Web browser of the information processing apparatus requests of the Web server an operation screen, a Web application on the Web server transmits, to the information processing apparatus in response to the request, an HTML file for displaying an operation screen on the display unit by the Web browser. The Web browser of the information processing apparatus analyzes the received HTML file (screen data) to display an operation screen based on the description of the HTML file. Also, when the user inputs an instruction via the operation screen displayed on the display unit by the Web browser, the Web browser notifies the Web server of the input instruction. The Web application on the Web server executes a process according to the instruction notified by the Web browser of the information processing apparatus.
As a technique of improving the response characteristics of screen display based on screen data provided from a Web server, a technique of caching screen data received from the Web server, for example, can be employed. More specifically, screen data (for example, text data or image data) for screen display, which is received from a Web server, is stored (cached) as cache data by an information processing apparatus. Then, when the information processing apparatus receives an instruction to display a new screen from the user, if screen data corresponding to the screen has been stored as cache data, the information processing apparatus displays the screen based on the cache data. That is, because the use of a cache function allows the information processing apparatus to quickly display a screen based on cache data without requesting of the Web server screen data again, the response characteristics of screen display can improve.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2010-15432 proposes, for example, a system in which a server apparatus periodically acquires screen information from a Web server based on URL information registered in advance to store it as cache data. The server apparatus transmits the stored cache data to a client apparatus in a good communication state. Because the client apparatus can quickly display a user's desired Web page on a screen using the cache data received from the server apparatus, the operation response characteristics can improve even in the initial stage of connection between the client apparatus and the Web server.
However, in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2010-15432, since the server apparatus acquires cache data associated with URL information registered in advance, it acquires no cache data associated with unregistered URL information, thus making it impossible to improve the operation response characteristics. Hence, in displaying a screen provided from the Web server based on URL information other than URL information registered in advance, it is desired to improve the response characteristics of screen display in accordance with the user-specific screen use mode. Especially for a screen frequently used by the user among screens provided from the Web server, it is desired to improve the response characteristics of screen display by effectively using a cache function.